Entry into His Rest?

Are we, who consider ourselves saved, in the faith or of the faith?

Now as I am using the phrase "in the faith" I refer to us agreeing with what we believe is the gospel of salvation. I joined the Boy Scouts and therefore was "in" the Boy Scouts. My action caused my entry. Picture a door, we open it, and then Christ walks in!

Is this your idea of entry into salvation?

On the other hand, we have the phrase "of the faith." Here the idea is transformative, we were converted from not being of the faith to being of the faith, from not being a chosen person to being a chosen person, from not being born anew to being born anew, from not being a new creation to being a new creation.

The second view (becoming "of the faith") is actually how we enter His Rest. The first view (becoming in the faith) results in us being "professing Christians." But there are both tares and wheat who are professing Christians.

But does God always enter when we profess our belief in Christ, i.e. open the door, so to speak? What does Matthew 13:1-23 teach?

Those that say if we profess Christ, we are automatically saved, are just as wrong as those that say we cannot receive the gospel with joy due to our total spiritual inability.

 

It would be wrong to point to someone and say he is in the faith but not of the faith. What the idea is for us to consider the meaning of 1 John 2:19.

Only when God credits our faith as righteousness and places us spiritually in Christ, where we undergo the circumcision of Christ, do we arise a new creation born anew from above, saved forever by the salvation that is in Christ. People who have been born anew are kept by the power of God and are unable to even want to escape His grasp. Thus those that leave the faith were professing Christians but not born anew believers.

Lots of folks think that by believing they put themselves in Christ and by believing they keep themselves in Christ. For example, read all these "from Christian to Atheist blogs. This is not the gospel of Christ.

 

It is difficult to get a handle on Greek phrase usage because different Greek constructions are translated "in the faith." However, lets zero in on just three verses, 1 Corinthians 16:13, 2 Corinthians 13:5, and Titus 1:13.

These were all written by Paul, and use the construction "en te pistei" or in the faith. Each verse address an attribute we exhibit in relation to faith in Christ. Are we standing strong - in the faith; are we indwelt and therefore - in the faith, and are we sound -in the faith. The second verse, 2 Corinthians 13:5 certainly suggests that scripture does not always draw the distinction presented in the OP.

On the other hand, Paul seems to use "of the faith" to either address something about the faith being exhibited, or to address an aspect of the faith such as exhibiting love. I did not see where Paul used the phrase to address the idea of being a new creation, and therefore "of the faith."

But to return to 1 John 2:19, and those who departed from us because they were not of us, they had professed faith but had not been born anew. Thus they were in or among those professing faith, but they were not transformed, born anew as spiritually alive children of God.

If we turn to John 15 and the parable of the Vine, we see in verse two that some can be "in" the vine but not bear fruit, whereas those who abide in the vine AND He abides in them, they bear fruit. So again we see the distinction of being "in" yet not transformed, i.e. indwelt! Compare with 2 Corinthians 13:5.